The five rail
networks were designed and constructed mainly in the last quarter of
the previous century and the first quarter of this century. Besides
serving their basic purpose, they are also a treat for the passengers
as they pass through a very beautiful terrain. These Railways are
also wonderful examples of excellence in engineering achieved by the
masters of the craft at a time when skills in this field were rather
primitive
The mighty Himalayas
are an apt crown for India. The glory of the Himalayan range is
unmatched and can best be appreciated by seeing them with one owns
eyes. The Indian Railways have made awe-inspiring contribution by
bringing the mountain range closer to us through the following
mountain railways: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Kangra Valley
Railway, Kalka Shimla Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway, and the
Matheran Light Railway.
The first three
Railways connect the foothills of the Himalayas with exotic hill
stations, the fourth connects Mettupalayam on the foothills of the
Nilgiris to the beautiful hill station of Ootacamund in the South and
the fifth runs on the Western Ghats.
The Darjeeling
Himalayan Railway
It was a crisp
winter night in the year 1878. A glorious fire crackled on one side
of the hall. The polished parquet floor of the Planters Club at
Tindharia resonated with choreographed footsteps. The sahibs and
memsahibs were attired in their best tails, frills and feather hats.
The gaiety of the dancers was infectious. It was party-time.
But
Franklin Prestage was not exactly having a ball. He seemed
preoccupied although he let his wife lead him through the motions on
the dance floor. His feverish mind was trying to figure out how to
conquer that impossible gradient where his pet Darjeeling tramway
project had got stuck. His wife gently led the distracted Prestage to
the edge of the dance floor and when they were right at the brink,
she swerved deftly and led him back centre-stage. If you
cant go forward, why dont you go back darling,
she is believed to have whispered in his ears.
And that is
precisely what Prestage did when he built the delightfully innovative
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR). Franklin Prestage was an official
of the Darjeeling Tramway Company. His dream was to build a narrow
gauge rail track along the Hill Cart Road alignment. But he could not
proceed beyond the 14th mile due to the steepness of the gradient.
Until his wife inspired him with an ingenious solution, perhaps
inadvertently. Every time, the gradient got too steep, Franklin
brought the tracks back a few yards and let it climb again at a
slightly different point, sketching a Z-shaped zigzag not
once, but six times in the 51-mile stretch from Siliguri to
Darjeeling. The inspiration he drew from his wifes wisdom is
now part of the Darjeeling folklore.
The Darjeeling
Himalayan Railway is a marvel of sorts in what one would call
non-engineering. It uses neither rack mechanism nor cable as other
mountain railways do, but moves only on adhesion. It was the genius
and vision of Franklin Prestage which conceived of such a mechanism
and executed it to perfection. During its 87.48 kilometres
journey from Siliguri to Darjeeling, the toy train as it
is aptly and affectionately referred to, loops gracefully around
those recalcitrant humps, much like a spiral and chugs its way up to
Ghum, its highest point at 7407 feet. It seems to be gentle
persuasion all the way. The only other mountain railway in the world
that reaches a higher altitude is in the Andes where Cusco station is
located at 14,000 feet, but the mechanism used there is different.
Innovative
engineering is only one facet of the inimitable DHR. Perhaps, no
other railway system in the world is as ineluctably interwoven with
the lives of the peoples it serves. DHR has been part of the
Darjeeling landscape for over a hundred years and is central to the
hill economy of the region. The railway was instrumental in
attracting people from neighbouring Sikkim, Nepal, West Bengal and
even as far away as Tibet, making Kurseong, a wayside town, a true
entrepot of eclectic cultures.
Before
the DHR was built, travellers used ponies which used to take several
days through the meandering Hill Cart Road. Now quaint little
stations with even quainter names dot the route Tindharia,
Sukna, Rangtong, Chunbati and Ghum. The journey is as leisurely, but
not at all strenuous unlike a pony ride. Each stretch offers a unique
panorama. The Sukna-Tindharia stretch of the foothills traverses
through the Singalela range where the train takes its first loop. The
Terai forest unfolds as you near Rangtong. Here you experience your
first reversing zigzag. Then it takes its next loop at Chunbati
gaining height and voila! You have a magnificent view of the
Mahanandi valley on your right. At Tindharia, it halts long enough
for you to stretch your legs, stroll and tuck into a snack and a
steaming cup of tea before you resume your journey towards Agony
Point the aptly named loop just after Tindharia which churns
the contents of your stomach. Soon youre heading for another
reverse, the last one at 3400 feet just after Gayabari station where
monkeys seem to be absorbed in their conference. All it takes is a
cone of peanuts to distract their concentration and abruptly
terminate the solemn congregation. As the train winds its way, a
massive scar on the hillside comes into view. You learn it is Pagla
Jhora or Mad Torrent which in its fury washes away road and track,
houses and shops every few years cutting off Darjeeling for days
during the monsoons. The Mahanandi station gives you a glimpse of the
source of the river. After Eagles Crag, youre treated to a
spectacular vista of the West Bengal plains if youre
lucky that is. We were, it was a wonderfully sunny and clear day.
After Kurseong, its
tea gardens all the way. Margarets Hope, stretches for miles in
front of you and you marvel at the deftness with which the hill women
pick the tea leaves and drop it into the massive baskets on their
backs. Their movements seem choreographed to perfection. But they
have time to pause and flash a smile at you as you chug along. After
pausing at Tung station for water, the train climbs to Sonada station
built in the 1880s. From here, you head for the clouds Ghum,
enveloped eternally in a mist. As you near Ghum, its colourful
monastery comes into view. After Ghum, the train runs up along a
small ridge to reach the most spectacular engineering feat on the
line the Batasia Loop with a breathtaking view of the
Kanchenjunga as a backdrop. At Batasia, there is a memorial to the
Gorkhas. After its laborious climb, the train takes its last drink of
water before teetering precariously on the hillside to reach its
final destination, the Darjeeling station.
According to Mark
Twain, a trip on the DHR is the most enjoyable day I have spent
on the earth. Few will disagree with him. Darjeeling becomes
the toy train and the toy train, Darjeeling. In fact, the verdant
slopes appear more as a backdrop to the ubiquitous toy train. Without
it, the Darjeeling landscape would appear bereft. The steamy hiss of
the engine, the strident whistle and the clatter of the carriages as
the toy train winds its way up the hill blend seamlessly with the
cacophony of hill traffic especially because the railway and the hill
road chase each other all the way from Siliguri to Darjeeling. At
times the narrow gauge railway track and the road seem to move in
tandem, a picture of perfect harmony. Many times in fact 150
times in the entire stretch they cross each other. Every now
and then they play hide and seek like two feuding lovers. But they
are never too far away from each other at any point.
Those
of you who are on the wrong side of 40, might perhaps remember the
film Aradhana in which, Rajesh Khanna travelling in a jeep,
woos Sharmila Tagore travelling in the toy train to the accompaniment
of a haunting melody. Avant garde as ever, Hindi filmdom
recognised the romantic potential of the Darjeeling Railway long
before even the Railways themselves woke up to it.
But then, the
Railways did wake up and so did UNESCO which recently declared DHR as
a World Heritage Site. The World Heritage Site status puts DHR in the
same exalted league as The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, our very own
Humayuns Tomb in Delhi, Hampi in south India and other such
man-made marvels. A heritage site is one that is worthy of
preservation and a legacy that is worth bequeathing to posterity.
After Zimmering in the Austrian Alps, DHR is the second railway
system in the world to be accorded the World Heritage status.
Earlier,
the very same DHR had put Darjeeling on the world tea map. If the
exquisitely flavoured premium Darjeeling tea is sipped in the
fashionable salons of Paris today, then it is DHR that has played a
small role in making this happen. In its earlier avatars of
open carriages, it had ferried tea from the misty slopes to the
railheads on the plains to be transhipped to faraway destinations.
There is an enchanting sepia-tinted photograph of the DHR ferrying
wooden tea chests down the hill in the Ghum museum which has just
opened. It houses other exquisite DHR memorabilia such as the
signalling lanterns in use since the nineteenth century, whistles,
plaques and badges and some priceless old photographs.
A ride on the DHR is
not for the hurried and hassled traveller who is impatient to reach
his destination. Its for those who believe the journey is the
destination. Much like a toy train strung together from matchboxes,
the DHR balances on two-feet tracks moving at a maximum speed of 15
kilometers an hour. It takes all of nine hours to reach Darjeeling
from Siliguri and the entire ride for a princely sum of Rs 30!
Imaginatively named coaches such as Shivalik, Kanchenjunga, etc with
wide windows offer picture postcard views of rhododendron slopes.
Kanchenjunga in all her snowy glory, beckons you tantalisingly from
every turn the train takes. In fact, there are so many turns and
twists in the track that it seems as though the train is turning its
head to check up on its rear from time to time. The train passes
through bazaars so close that you can virtually lean out and help
yourself to the merchandise in the shops. It hugs the hillsides,
giving you a glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the hill people. It
seems to be a constant wonder for the locals who stop in their tracks
to watch it go-by just as their parents and grandparents must have
done it in their time. Even as traffic on the narrow hill roads get
snarled from time to time, the DHR gets right of way as it passes
regally through the townships.
The officials hope
that the World Heritage status will attract fun-seekers and adventure
lovers to Darjeeling. DHR might soon replace tea as the mascot of
this lovely hill station. In fact, a trip to Darjeeling would be
worth the effort just for the train ride. The DHR is a celebration,
no less.
The Kangra Valley
Railway
No one could have
thought of making a finer selection of territory for building a new
mountain railway in India than the Kangra Valley. Few places can
match this scenic region in the sub-Himalayas. You will stumble
across a land that has cast its magic spell upon those who planned
the railway and those who built the line. The result is there for all
to see an achievement that in every way makes one proud of the
fine record that the history of Indian Railways has always had.
We must remember,
the Kangra Valley is not one place in particular. It happens to be
the name given to the entire region that lies between the Dhauladhar
ranges of the Himalayas to the north and the last straggling
foothills to the south. So, roughly speaking, we are talking about a
slim rectangular belt running 90 miles in length and 30 miles in
breadth through the mountains. To the north, the peaks rear skyward:
first a low chain of ridges followed by an extensive line averaging
between 7000 and 9000 feet. Directly behind those are massifs rising
from 13,000 to well over 16,000 feet. Then the snows.
I hurried
still more not to miss the vision for which we had come so far, Then
the miracle happened. Folded in light mist, hill after hill rolled
away into the distances from beneath my feet and over this green
ocean sparkled the vast icebergs of the Himalayas! exclaimed
Lionel Terry as he saw the magic of the Himachal Himalayas.
Never in my
remotest dreams had I imagined that such beauty could exist on
earth... Time effaces all memories, but feelings of that moment are
branded in me while I live... Looking back today I see more, that it
was not only the revelation of my dreams of youth, but the beginning
of an experience which has influenced me more than any other
the discovery of a world outside our time, he panted. It was
love at first sight.
The Kangra Valley
Railway is ample proof of how railway engineers can create a work in
harmony with nature. This they have done without destroying the
grandeur of the mountain, and at the same time, revealing to the
traveller, an enchanted fairyland.
Like the Russian
emigre Roerichs paintings, the line is where a poet or an
artist would have placed it. This symphony emphasises the tremendous
depth of the gorges through which sparkling streams tear their
impetuous way to the great plains of India.
Anything else would
have ruined it. A different alignment, a different mode of taking the
railway through the maze of hills and valleys would have spoilt its
picture postcard perfectness. This unique line has just two tunnels,
one of which is only 250 feet and the other 1,000 feet in length. We
must remember this is a total distance of 103 miles. Instead of
boring his way through the mountains, the railway engineer has
skilfully avoided running head first into the hillside. Instead of
following dizzy curves, he has cleverly chosen to avoid the awkward
corners and straighten his turnings. Never does the traveller feel
giddiness stealing upon him as it does sometimes on other mountain
routes.
Go easy on the
curves! could well have been the motto of the builders here.
For the Kangra Valley Railway presents to the traveller, a chance to
gaze as long as he likes on the ever present panorama of snow-clad
ranges and the gold green fields without being swung round every few
minutes on a narrow arc before his eyes can greet the scenery.
Certainly the
scenery through which the train passes is ample compensation for the
extra distance covered as compared to getting there by road. The most
picturesque parts of the valley are exposed to the view the
stretch of 18 miles from Mangwal to Kangra, for example, lies through
country unsurpassed for its majestic grandeur with the majestic Ban
Ganga gorge and the deep Kangra chasm as two piéce de
resistance.
As you approach
Palampur, the ever-present background of snowy chain peaks, 15,000
and 16,000 feet in height is barely ten miles away from you. From
here onwards, the line runs parallel to the Dhauladhar Range and much
nearer to it than any other Railways in India that ever comes so
close to the eternal snows.
Just before
Baijnath, the line enters a stretch of country far superior to the
journey by road. Here, the train threads its way among the pines of
the Bhir gorge.
Not
many miles further up the line is the Bathu Khad which is spanned by
a long viaduct constructed on a graceful curve with the rails about
100 feet above the bed of the nullah. Between this point and
Kangra are the only two tunnels: at mile 53 is the Dhudni tunnel, 250
feet long. Four miles further is the Daulatpur tunnel, 1000 feet in
length.
Through all this
portion of the journey, the scenery is very rugged but extremely
interesting especially along the last few miles to Kangra whose
ancient Rajput fort now in ruins after the 1905 earthquake
is visible from beyond the second tunnel. The line does not pass
through Kangra town itself but is separated from it by a gigantic
cleft in the hills at the bottom of which runs the picturesque Ban
Ganga river.
As a holiday resort,
the valley has irresistible attractions. A congenial climate with
alluring chances of spotting wildlife; peaks to tempt mountaineers or
just rock faces to scamper over. Should you not be of the athletic
variety, there are wonderful walks among the pines at Palampur and
elsewhere too. March and April are the best months to visit the
valley when it is covered with wild rambler roses, oleanders,
rhododendron and fruit blossoms.
Come any time! The
Kangra Valley Railway awaits you!
Kalka-Shimla
Railway
The idea of a
railway line to Shimla dates back to the introduction of Railways in
India. In the Delhi Gazette, a correspondent in November 1847
sketched the route of a railway to Shimla with estimates of the
traffic returns etc. in appropriate style. He wrote: We might
then see these cooler regions become the permanent seat of a
government daily invigorated by a temperature adapted to refresh an
European constitution and keep the mental powers in a state of health
alike beneficial both to the rulers and the ruled.
Survey for a railway
line to Shimla featured in the Administrative Reports of the Indian
Railways year after year. It is interesting to note that the Shimla
line was the most surveyed line. The earliest survey was made in 1884
followed by another survey in 1885. Based on these two surveys, a
project report was submitted in 1887 to the Government of India for
an adhesion line, 68 miles in length and with a ruling gradient of 1
in 33. After the commencement of Delhi-Ambala-Kalka line, fresh
surveys were made. Lengthy debates followed and finally an adhesion
line was chosen in preference to the rack system.
On June 29, 1898, a
contract was signed between the Secretary of State and the
Delhi-Ambala-Kalka Railway Company for construction and working of a
two feet gauge line from Kalka to Shimla. As per the contract, the
rail line was to be built without any pecuniary aid or guarantee from
the government. The land was, however, provided free of charge. The
military authorities were sceptic about the narrower gauge of two
feet chosen for Kalka-Shimla Railway. They recommended a standard two
feet by six inches gauge for mountain and light strategic railways.
The Government of India yielded to the military requirements and on
November 15, 1901, the contract with DUK was revised and two feet by
six inches gauge was adopted for Kalka-Shimla Railway. This meant
change of gauge for a portion of the line built in the year 1901.
In the beginning,
the line was laid with 41-1/4 lb flat footed steel rails 21 feet long
on steel bearing plates and deodar timber sleepers, nine to a rail.
The track was stone ballasted throughout and fenced only along the
Kalka camping ground and through the outskirts of the town of Kalka.
The line measuring 59.44 miles from Kalka to Shimla was opened for
traffic on November 9, 1903. Because of peculiar working conditions
high capital cost coupled with high maintenance cost
Kalka-Shimla Railway was allowed to charge higher rates and fare
compared to the then prevailing rates for other lines in the plains.
By 1904, a total of Rs. 1,65,25,000 was spent by DUK and it was a
serious financial crisis. On representation of the company, the
Secretary of State decided to purchase the line, the purchase was
affected from January 1,1906.
The scenery along
the whole route is of most magnificent character. Flanked by towering
hills, the line, like twin threads of silver, clings perilously to
the sides of steep cliffs or ventures boldly over graceful bridges
where hundreds of feet below, the little mountain streams gush and
sparkle in the sunlight. On leaving Kalka, 2100 feet high above mean
sea level, the rail line enters the foothills, commencing its
picturesque climb immediately on its departure from Kalka station.
The first great difficulty met with was the huge landslide on the
seventh mile of the cart road which extends from the hill summit down
to Khushallia river 1500 feet below. It was impossible to find a good
alignment passing either below or above the slip, and construction
along the face of the landslide was out of question. The only
alternative was to burrow under the hill. A tunnel, nearly half mile
long, was constructed in the solid wall behind the disturbed surface
strata and is known as Koti tunnel. The main station
Dharampur, is at a height of 4900 feet and is 20 miles from Kalka.
The gradient here is very steep and to achieve flatter gradients
required by the Railway, the line develops into three picturesque
loops at Taksal, Gumman and Dharampur respectively. After leaving
Dharampur, the railway gains on the road by taking short cuts and
tunnels so that up to Taradevi, the distance by rail from Kalka is
one-fourth mile less than the distance by road in spite of railway
handicaps. From Taradevi, the rail line goes round
Prospect Hill to Jatogh, winding in a series of graceful curves round
the Summer Hill and burrows under Inverarm Hill to emerge below the
road on the south side of Inverarm at its 59th mile and so on to the
terminus near the old Dovedell Chambers. At Dagshai, mile 24, the
railway line is 5200 feet above sea level whence it falls to 4900
feet at Solan and to 4667 feet at Kandaghat where the final ascent
towards Shimla begins. Between Dagshai and Solan, the railway pierces
the Barogh Hill through a tunnel 3752 feet long and situated 900 feet
below the road.
Throughout its
length of 60 miles, the line runs in a continuous succession of
reverse curves up to 120 feet radius along the valleys and spurs,
flanking mountains rising to 6800 feet above sea level at Shimla
Railway Station, the steepest gradients being three in hundred. The
Kalka-Shimla Railway with its extraordinary feat of engineering
skill, more than any other cause, contributed to the speedy
development of Shimla.
An interesting
feature of the Kalka-Shimla Railway is the almost complete absence of
girder bridges. Multi-arched galleries like ancient Roman aqueducts
being the commonest means of carrying the line over the ravines
between the hill spurs. There is only one 60 feet plate girder span
in a pine wood near the old engineer bungalow at Dharampur and a
steel trestle viaduct which replaced a stone gallery in 1935 in the
869 bridges representing about 3 percent of the line. The entire
section has been built with steep gradient through the Shivalik
ranges. Another special feature of the Kalka-Shimla Railway is that
as many as 27 cut overs serve as different gradient crossings. There
are 20 intermediate stations, and all have crossing facilities. The
line also has about 107 tunnels which, besides representing the
engineering feat, also generate a lot of interest in the travellers.
During summer months, passenger traffic is heavy whereas in winter
months, potato traffic keeps the line busy. In addition to three
passenger and one Rail Motor Car Service mentioned in the timetable,
two special trains each way run between Summerhigh and Shimla. These
special trains cater to military requirements. Deserving special
mention are the recently introduced luxurious Shivalik Express and
the super-luxurious Shivalik Palace saloon for tourists.
Nilgiri Mountain
Railway
Coonoor is situated
6,000 feet above sea level at the south-east corner of the Nilgiri
Plateau and at the head of the principal pass from the plains. Up
this ghat runs a road 21 miles long and a rack railway 16 3/4 miles
from Mettupalaiyam in Coimbatore District. The place was constituted
a municipality in 1866. Coonoor remained a terminus for the Nilgiri
line for eight years. The extension from Coonoor to Ootacamund was
constructed by the Government of India and the line was opened up to
Fernhill on September 15, 1908, and up to Ootacamund, a month later.
Rack system was discarded for this extension though the ruling
gradient is as severe as 1 in 23. The Ooty terminus was named
Udagamandalam, the Tamil word for Ootacamund.
The main feature of
this line is the unique rack system and the equally unique and
complicated locomotives. To quote from Sir Guilford L. Molesworths
report of 1886: The locomotive used for working on the
Abt System has two distinct functions: first, that of traction by
adhesion as in an ordinary loco and second, that of traction by
pinions acting upon the rack bars. The brakes are four in number
two hand brakes action by friction and two acting by preventing the
free escape of air from cylinder and thus using compressed air in
retarding the progress of the engine. The former are used for
shunting whilst the latter for descending steep gradients. One of the
hand brakes acts on the tyres of the wheels in the ordinary manner
and the second acts on grooved surfaces of the pinion axle but can be
used in those place where the rack is laid. Even after hundred years,
the brake system on Nilgiri locomotives is as intricate and
cumbersome as it was in 1886. The train journey from Chennai to
Mettupalaiyam (327 miles) then took just over 17 hours and cost Rs 20
first class and another 20 rupees to cover the remaining 33 miles up
the steep mountain road to Coonoor and Ootacamund by the Nilgiri
Carrying Companys Mail and Express Tonga Service while
heavy baggage had to be sent by bullock cart. The only alternative
was to hire a pony and arrange for luggage to be taken up by
individual baggage carriers using the shorter but even steeper old
road to Coonoor.
Nowadays, the
traveller from Ootacamund leaves Chennai Central station on the
evening Nilgiri Express at 9 p.m. and arrives at Mettupalaiyam at
7.10 a.m. after a 10 hour journey. There he merely crosses the
platform to join the metre gauge train which leaves at 7.25 a.m. and
reaches Udagamandalam at 11.40 a.m. in less than 15 hours. The
Nilgiri Railway (NMR) is a feat of engineering unique in the East.
The line is a metre gauge, practically level for the first four and a
half miles, to Kallar at the immediate foot of the hills. As soon as
the train leaves Kallar, the rack rail appears and the long climb
begins. In the next 12 miles to Coonoor, the line rises 4363 feet
curving almost continuously as it clings to the mountainside,
crossing lofty viaducts or tunnels through the hard rock. In this
distance there are nine tunnels, the longest being 317 feet in
length. The gradient posts read one in twelve and a half with
monotonous consistency.
Construction
expenses were heavy because in addition to the tunnels, a big bridge
over the river Bhawani at the foothills was necessary. Besides this
large bridge, 26 other bridges smaller in size, were constructed and
heavy expenditure incurred in rock-cutting and blasting. To quote a
South Indian railway spokesman in 1935: Those engineers must
have been lovers of nature when they decided on the alignment.
Matheran Light
Railway
Abdul Hussain, son
of the business ty-coon, Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy of Mumbai, was a
regular visitor to Matheran at the turn of the century. After having
obtained a reluctant consent from his father, young Abdul Hussain
camped at Neral in 1900 AD to plan for a narrow gauge railway line to
Matheran. The construction started in 1904 and the two-feet-gauge
line finally opened to traffic in 1907.
Neral, the starting
station of this line, falls nearly midway on the Mumbai-Pune route of
the Central Railway. Starting from Neral, the narrow-gauge-two-feet
line runs parallel to the main broad gauge line leaving the road to
the west of Hardal Hill, then turning sharply east. The ascent
commences and road and rail meet at the end of the third mile near
Jummapatti station. They part company again to meet a mile further
just beyond the steep slope of Bhekra Khud.
A narrow stretch of
level ground terminates in the abrupt rise underlying Mount Barry. To
avoid a reversion station, a large horseshoe embankment was
constructed. Round this the line runs for a mile in the north
direction till it turns back through the only tunnel on the route.
One Kiss Tunnel gives a couple time just sufficient for a
kiss! We are now halfway through the hills. In the olden days, the
tiny locomotive may have exhausted all its water. Right, a water pipe
is available and the station is conveniently name Water Pipe.
The name continues though the diesel locos no more get exhausted and
the water pipe has lost its importance. Instead a tea stall on the
platform and a liquor shop serve the passengers at this midway point.
The line now lies under Mount Barry, and to negotiate the rise here,
the line zigzags sharply backwards and forwards twice passing through
two deep cuttings. The line pursues its way more decorously and
reaches out more or less straight for Panorama Point after skirting
it and then returns by Simpsons Tank and terminates close to
the Matheran bazaar.
The Railway is
12-1/2 miles long and has a gauge of only two feet. The permanent way
originally consisted of rail 30 lb to a yard with a ruling gradient
of 1 in 20. Speed is limited to 12 miles per hour only. Construction
of line was done by local labour though occasionally help was sought
from the Pioneer Regiments. The rails have since been
replaced by heavier ones weighing 42 lb to a yard. The permanent-way
Inspector of Neral maintains this line. As a precautionary measure
against frequent slides, the line used to close during the monsoons
(July-August) till recently, but now passenger services continue even
during rainy months. To commemorate the continuance of trains in the
monsoon months of 1982, a M.L.R loco N.o. 741 (O & K 1767 of
1905) has been installed at the Matheran station.
The Darjeeling
Himalayan Railway is a marvel of sorts in what one would call
non-engineering. It uses neither rack mechanism nor cable as other
mountain railways do, but moves only on adhesion
Go easy on the
curves! could well have been the motto of the builders here.
For the Kangra Valley Railway presents to the traveller a chance to
gaze as long as he likes on the ever-present panorama of snow-clad
ranges and the gold green fields without being swung round every few
minutes on a narrow arc before his eyes can greet the scenery.
The scenery along
the whole route of the Kalka-Shimla Railway is magnificent. Flanked
by towering hills, the line, like twin threads of silver, clings
perilously to the sides of steep cliffs or ventures boldly over
graceful bridges where hundreds of feet below, the little mountain
streams gush and sparkle in the sunlight.
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